EVANS v. MUNCY, 498 U.S. 927 (1990)
U.S. Supreme Court
EVANS v. MUNCY , 498 U.S. 927 (1990)498 U.S. 927
Wilbert Lee EVANS, petitioner
v.
Raymond MUNCY, Warden, et al. No. 90-5958.
Supreme Court of the United States
October 17, 1990
The application for stay of execution of sentence of death presented to THE CHIEF JUSTICE and by him referred to the Court is denied. The petition for writ of certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit is denied.
Justice MARSHALL, dissenting.
This Court's approval of the death penalty has turned on the premise that given sufficient procedural safeguards the death penalty may be administered fairly and reliably. E.g., Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153, 195-196, and n. 47, 2935-36, and n. 47 ( 1976) (joint opinion of Stewart, Powell, and STEVENS, JJ.). Wilbert Evans' plea to be spared from execution demonstrates the fallacy of this assumption. Notwithstanding the panoply of procedural protections afforded Evans by this Court's capital jurisprudence, Evans today faces an imminent execution that even the State of Virginia appears to concede is indefensible in light of the undisputed facts proffered by Evans. Because an execution under these circumstances highlights the inherently cruel and unusual character of capital punishment, I dissent. [ Evans v. Muncy 498 U.S. 927 (1990) ][927-Continued.]
I
Evans was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death. At the sentencing phase, the jury's verdict was predicated on a single aggravating circumstance: that if allowed to live Evans would pose a serious threat of future danger to society. See Va. Code 19.2-264.4(C) ( 1990). Without this finding, Evans could not have been sentenced to death . See e.g., Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238, 313, 2764 (1972) (WHITE, J., concurring) (existence of aggravating circumstance "distinguishing the few cases in which [the death penalty] is imposed" from those in which it is not is a constitutional prerequisite to death sentence); Gregg v. Georgia, supra, at 188-189 ( same).1
While Evans was on death row at the Mecklenberg Correctional Facility, an event occurred that casts grave doubt on the jury's prediction of Evans' future dangerousness. On May 31, 1984, six death row inmates at Mecklenberg attempted to engineer an escape. Armed with makeshift knives, these inmates took hostage 12 prison guards and 2 female nurses. The guards were stripped of their clothes and weapons, bound, and blindfolded. The nurses also were stripped of their clothes, and one was bound to an inmate's bed.
According to uncontested affidavits presented by guards taken hostage during the uprising, Evans took decisive steps to calm the riot, saving the lives of several hostages, and preventing the rape of one of the nurses. [Footnote 2] For instance, Officer Ricardo Holmes, who was bound by the escaping inmates and forced into a closet with other hostages, states that he heard Evans imploring to the escaping inmates, " 'Don't hurt anybody and everything will be allright.' " Officer Holmes continues:
Other guards taken hostage during the uprising verify Officer
Holmes' judgment that Evans protected them and the other hostages
from danger. According to Officer Prince Thomas, Evans interceded
to prevent the rape of Nurse Ethyl Barksdale by one of the escaping
inmates. Id., Exh. 9. Officer Harold Crutchfield affirms that
Evans' appeals to the escapees not to harm anyone may have meant
the difference between life and death for the hostages. "It is . .
. my firm belief that if Evans had not been present during the
escape, things may have blown up and people [498 U.S. 927 , 929]
U.S. Supreme Court
EVANS v. MUNCY , 498 U.S. 927 (1990) 498 U.S. 927 Wilbert Lee EVANS, petitionerv.
Raymond MUNCY, Warden, et al. No. 90-5958. Supreme Court of the United States October 17, 1990 The application for stay of execution of sentence of death presented to THE CHIEF JUSTICE and by him referred to the Court is denied. The petition for writ of certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit is denied. Justice MARSHALL, dissenting. This Court's approval of the death penalty has turned on the premise that given sufficient procedural safeguards the death penalty may be administered fairly and reliably. E.g., Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153, 195-196, and n. 47, 2935-36, and n. 47 ( 1976) (joint opinion of Stewart, Powell, and STEVENS, JJ.). Wilbert Evans' plea to be spared from execution demonstrates the fallacy of this assumption. Notwithstanding the panoply of procedural protections afforded Evans by this Court's capital jurisprudence, Evans today faces an imminent execution that even the State of Virginia appears to concede is indefensible in light of the undisputed facts proffered by Evans. Because an execution under these circumstances highlights the inherently cruel and unusual character of capital punishment, I dissent. [ Evans v. Muncy 498 U.S. 927 (1990) ][927-Continued.] I Evans was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death. At the sentencing phase, the jury's verdict was predicated on a single aggravating circumstance: that if allowed to live Evans would pose a serious threat of future danger to society. See Va. Code 19.2-264.4(C) ( 1990). Without this finding, Evans could not have been sentenced to death . See e.g., Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238, 313, 2764 (1972) (WHITE, J., concurring) (existence of aggravating circumstance "distinguishing the few cases in which [the death penalty] is imposed" from those in which it is not is a constitutional prerequisite to death sentence); Gregg v. Georgia, supra, at 188-189 ( same).1 Page 498 U.S. 927 , 928 While Evans was on death row at the Mecklenberg Correctional Facility, an event occurred that casts grave doubt on the jury's prediction of Evans' future dangerousness. On May 31, 1984, six death row inmates at Mecklenberg attempted to engineer an escape. Armed with makeshift knives, these inmates took hostage 12 prison guards and 2 female nurses. The guards were stripped of their clothes and weapons, bound, and blindfolded. The nurses also were stripped of their clothes, and one was bound to an inmate's bed. According to uncontested affidavits presented by guards taken hostage during the uprising, Evans took decisive steps to calm the riot, saving the lives of several hostages, and preventing the rape of one of the nurses. [Footnote 2] For instance, Officer Ricardo Holmes, who was bound by the escaping inmates and forced into a closet with other hostages, states that he heard Evans imploring to the escaping inmates, " 'Don't hurt anybody and everything will be allright.' " Officer Holmes continues: